Editorial: School voucher program in trouble again

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the school voucher program beginning in the 2014-2015 school year in parishes under desegregation orders. The movement of students can - and has, in some instances - upset the racial balance in schools, making them noncompliant with desegregation plans.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has vowed to fight the Justice Department.

And the unfortunate reality is that while adults play this game of legal tug-of-war, many of the children in the program are caught in the middle.

The voucher program, formally known as the Louisiana Scholarship Program, which the Jindal administration helped to push through the Legislature, offers scholarships to children in public schools rated C, D or F so they can attend private, religious and A or B public schools.

It is a fine idea in theory, but putting it into practice is proving to be a challenge.

The program faced an earlier challenge when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to use public school funds to pay for private school tuition, so the Jindal administration shifted to using money from the general fund.

And now, the Jindal administration must either prevail against the Justice Department or find another work-around to keep the controversial program intact.

Already, the Justice Department has said the loss of five white students from Independence Elementary School in Tangipahoa Parish has reinforced "the racial identity of the school as a black school." The opposite has happened to Cecilia Primary School in St. Martin Parish, which is now identified by law as a white school, according to a report from the Associated Press.

It is upsetting to learn that desegregation agreements hammered out by school districts and the federal government may be jeopardized. In St. Landry Parish, a a four-decades-old desegregation case was settled in 2011 with great effort and expense.

St. Landry Parish may be one of those affected if the DOJ is successful - a school district spokesperson said there are more than 130 students from that parish currently participating in the voucher program.

The number of students from Lafayette Parish were unavailable for the current school year, but state Superintendent John White told The Daily Advertiser on Wednesday there are "quite a few." In the 2012-2013 school year, there were between 130 and 145.

White said there are only 34 school districts under desegregation orders and most are rural parishes - but that's almost half of Louisiana's 70 school districts distributed among its 64 parishes - although only 22 of those districts currently have students in the program.

White said one in seven of the roughly 8,000 students in the scholarship program will be affected. That's more than 1,100 children who may be subjected to upheaval in the next year.

Jindal and White have been vocal in their indignation.

In an excerpt from a video statement provided to The Daily Advertiser by Jindal's office, he proclaims, "You can tell I am angry about this."

White sees a cruel irony in the fact that while federal desegregation orders are meant to ensure a good education to minority students, in his view, the DOJ lawsuit seeks to deny them that very thing. Ninety percent of students in the voucher program are black, White added.

But the administration should shoulder some responsibility for this turn of events. Many in the education community have predicted these problems from the outset.

Didn't the Jindal administration see them coming?

Yes, White said Wednesday, but "we can't not do the right thing because there's a possibility somebody will try to stop you."

Perhaps not, but you could try to find ways to iron out wrinkles like violating the state constitution or federal court orders before launching a program.

Some believe the voucher program is the salvation of education in Louisiana. Others believe it will destroy public education.

Either way, this back-and-forth, start-and-stop brand of education reform can't be good for these children whose fate seems to constantly be in question.

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Editorial: School voucher program in trouble again

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the school voucher program beginning in the 2014-2015 school year in parishes under desegregation orders.